Steering device for traction-engines.



No. 833,783. PATE-MED 06T. 23,1906.

o. B. HALL & F. A. THOMAS. y Y STEERING DEV-10E FOR TRAGTION'ENGINES.

APPLIOATION FILED JAILZG. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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4 THE NDRRS FETBRS CO, WASHINGTON, D. C4 g 44 VPATENTADDGT. 2s, 1906. 0. B. HALL & F. A. THOMAS.

STEERING-DEVICE FOR TRAGTION ENGINES. APALIoATIoN HILED JAN.26, 1905.

ZWCUZT UNITED STATES .4 APATENT orifice.`

OHARLES B. .HALL AND FRANK A. THOMAS, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNORS BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF ONE-THIRD TO SAID HALL, ONE-THIRD TO ANDRINE lM. SORENSEN, AND ONE-THIRD TO DAVID lN. DALRYMPLE, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

vPatented Oct. 2B, 1906.

Application led January 26,1905. Serial No. 242,709.

To-all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES B. HALL and FRANK A. THOMAS, citizens of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, county of 5 Hennepin, and State of Minnesota, have ljointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering Devices for Traction- Engines, of which the following is a specication.

o Our invention relates to the class of engines in which the axle of the front wheels is capable of being oscillated to change the direction -of movement ofthe engine and to the devices for effecting such oscillatory movements.

5 -The object of our invention is to provide devices adapted toutilize the power of the .vmain driving-shaft for actuating them to change the position of the axle of the front wheels. This end we. accomplish by means .fo of friction-clutches on the driving-shaft, a

manually-operated clutch-shifter, and suitable gears, shafts, and chain connections between the driving-shaft and the driven axle, `whereby the inclinedpositions of the latter :5 can be conveniently controlled.

Our improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, partlyin section, of atra'cton-en- .o gine equipped withour improvements. Fig.

3 is an enlarged view of part of the steeringgear as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a top view, enlarged, of parts of the steering-gear as shown in Fig. 1; and Figs. 5 and 6 show de- 5 tail views of the holder for the driven shaft of the steering-gear.

In the drawings, 1 designates the engineboiler, 2 the main` driving-shaft, and 3 a flywheel thereon. On the shaft 2 and rigidly .o secured thereto are cone-shaped Jfriction clutch members 4 and 5, spaced a suitable distanceapart, and between them on a loose slidable sleeve 6 are the correspondinglyshaped clutch members 7 and 8, the loose .5 member 7 adapted to be actuated by fricidle positions.

its rear end connected to a pivot l11 one brackety 12 at the side of` theboiler. An arm 13, extending inward from the body ofthe shifter 9, is pivotally connected to arod 13a, the rear end of which is connected to an ordinary hand-lever 14. By operating the latter the sleeve 6 may be moved in either direction to bring the frictional surfaces of the clutches to `contact or to move both to intermediate On the adjacent surfaces of the clutch members 7 and 8 are cogs or teeth 15 constituting them bevel-gears16 and 17, vand in the intermediate space atvthellower front side of the sleeve 6 is a bevel-gearflS, adapted to intermesh with either ofthe gears 16 or 17. The bevel-gear 18 isattached to the upper end of ashaft 19,-which extends downward and forward atthe side ofthe boiler. To permit the upper end of this steering-shaft to be moved laterally to carry the bevel-gear 18 to and from operative ositions, its upper portion is journaled in aox 20, in'which it may have (or which box may have) slight lateral movement, and its lower endfis journaled in a pivoted box 2l. Aiforward and downward extension 22 ofthe shifter-bar 9 is attached to ar loose collar 23 on the shaft 19, which enables the shaft to be shiftedlaterally to move the gear 18tocontact with the appropriate gear 16 or 17 vatthe same time that the shifter moves 'the corresponding friction clutch member to operative position.

The device for holding the steering-shaft 19 in middle position, and hence the bevelgear 18 in inoperative position, consists of a rod 24, pivotally connected to a support 25 at the side of the boiler, and a pair of gripper-jaws 26, connected to the head of the bar by pintles 27 and having cogs 28 for engaging a short rack-bar 29, inserted in a central socket in the rod 24, the rack-bar being seated on a spring 30. In normal positionthat is, when the shaft 19 is in intermediate position-the jaws grip the shaft, as indicated in Fig. 5, and when the shaft is shifted toward either side the distance between it and the pivoted ba'se of the holder-rod 24 is increased sufliciently to allow the spring 30 to lift the rack and spread the jaws, as indicated in Fig. 6.

The lower endof the shaft carries a worm 31, in mesh with a cog-wheel 32 on a transtached to the axle 36 of the front wheels. axle is arranged in the usual way to enable itV verse shaft 33', and to the latter near its opposite ends are attached chains 84 and 35, which wind thereon in opposite directions, and the forward ends of the chains are at- This gines, the combination with a driving-shaft,

an oscillatory wheel-axle, a winding-shaft and chains connecting such axle and winding-shaft, of a steering-shaft arranged to turn the winding-shaft and carrying a bevelgear on its upper end, a pair of cone-shaped friction-clutches fixed on the driving-shaft, an intermediate slidable sleeve, a pair of corresponding clutch members carried by the sleeve, bevel-gears provided on the adjacent faces of the latter members, and a clutchshifter for sliding said sleeve and moving the steering-shaft to move the clutches and gears to and from operative positions, substantially as set forth.

2. In a steering device for traction-engines, the combination with a driving-shaft, a pair of cone-shaped friction-clutches fixed thereon, an intermediate slidable sleeve, a pair of corresponding clutch members carried by the sleeve, bevel-gears provided on the adjacent faces of the latter members, a laterally-movable steering-shaft, a bevelgear carried thereon, and a manually-operated clutch-shifter for simultaneously moving the clutches and gears to and from contact positions, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a driving-shaft and an oscillatory wheel-axle, of steering devices comprising friction-clutches fixed on said shaft, a slidable sleeve carrying the movable clutch members, bevel-gears formed on the latter, an intermediate free movable bevel-gear, a steering-shaft carrying the latter, a clutch-shifter arranged to simultaneously move the movable clutch members and said gears to and from contact, a windingshaft operated by the steering-shaft, and suitable connections between the axle and the winding-shaft, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with a driving-shaft, of a pair of friction clutch members fixed thereon, a pair of movable clutch members between them, having bevel-gears formed on their opposite faces, a slidable sleeve carrying such movable members, an intermediate gear, a laterally-movable steering-shaft carrying the latter gear, and a controllable shifting device for simultaneously moving the clutches and gears to and from contact positions, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a steering-shaft and a bevel-gear carried thereon, of a driving.- shaft, a pair of coneshaped friction clutch members fixed thereon, an intermediate slidable sleeve, a pair of corresponding clutch members carried by the sleeve, bevelgears provided on the adjacent faces of the latter members, and a clutch-shifter for sliding said sleeve and moving the steering-shaft to move the clutches and gears to and from operative positions, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 26th day of November, 1904.

CHARLES B. HALL. FRANK A. THOMAS. Witnesses:

JAMES NELSON, A. A. ALLEN. 

